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As part of VideoMyJob’s State of Video in Talent (SOVT) 2021 report, we asked talent acquisition professionals worldwide to identify their top video sharing channels. Here, we reveal the best online channels for talent attraction, along with tips and advice on how to get the best out of each channel.
Lights. Camera. Action.
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. You’ve created a top-quality video destined to boost your employer brand and attract more talent into your hiring funnel.
But what’s the best online channel to publish it on? YouTube? TikTok? LinkedIn?
And, importantly, will anyone watch it from start to finish? In truth, most candidates won’t give more than 90 seconds of their time to watching a recruitment video – no matter how fantastic its production quality.
VideoMyJob’s SOVT 2021 report surveyed 700 talent professionals to find out how video is helping organizations to recruit, engage and retain candidates and employees. It turns out that talent attraction is a key business use case, with half of the respondents saying they’re using video to attract top talent or acquire specific skills, and 40% using it to communicate their employer brand and proposition (EVP), and to improve diversity and inclusion (D&I).
But to attract that top talent, video content must be authentic, engaging and, perhaps most crucially, appropriately tailored to each individual sharing platform.
In this article, we cover everything you need to know about the top video sharing channels for talent attraction so you can make the most of your videos.
1. YouTube
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 52%
Your channel might feature job advertisements, employee profiles or interviews with members of your senior leadership team. But be sure to keep the videos concise. Hubspot, the marketing software firm, advises that an optimum length for a video is between 30 seconds and two minutes.
YouTube is a relatively informal streaming platform, so focus on being authentic, personal and creative, and don’t worry too much about high-value production. The more fun and engaging your content, the more likely it is that people will share it far and wide.
It’s also a good idea to encourage viewers to use the comments sections. Just make sure someone in your recruitment team is monitoring contributions, and engaging and responding as appropriate.
2. LinkedIn
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 43%
As the world’s leading professional networking platform, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for posting short and snappy job advertisements. Importantly, LinkedIn also has some great features to help organizations with talent attraction, including the option to create target audiences for job ads.
The social media platform is also a key channel to leverage employee advocacy. Your existing employees will be connected to people who could be top-notch candidates. By encouraging your workforce to share video content about your organization, you can build brand awareness among passive candidates, or prompt prospective candidates to apply for a role.
Most users will come across video content as they scroll through their news feeds, but they won’t stop scrolling to view your video unless it’s eye-catching, compelling and concise. In addition, 79% of videos on LinkedIn are watched on mute, so make sure all your content contains subtitles to avoid losing your audience in a matter of seconds.
3. Facebook
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 43%
Much like YouTube, Facebook is a fairly informal streaming platform, and the video content you post here should reflect that. People don’t typically spend their time on Facebook actively looking for new job opportunities, so it’s best to focus on employee-led storytelling, such as personalized day-in-the-life videos.
You could also ask your employees to discuss what they love about your workplace, how they would describe the culture, what initially attracted them to the job, and what they get up to on a typical working day. This type of video provides a more personalized look at your organization's people, roles and culture, which candidates respond well to.
4. Company careers site
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 34%
A company’s career site is sometimes overlooked as a tool for attracting top talent, but it would be foolish to underestimate its enormous and unique value. Unlike social media platforms, which are subject to fluctuating algorithms and are controlled by the platforms’ parent companies, your career site is a channel that you have full control over.
Your careers site acts as a central repository for your recruitment videos – including any full-length videos that have been cut down in length to make them more effective for social media. But it also allows you serve up videos in a way that best suits your objectives, and gives you the opportunity to guide prospective candidates to your desired next steps. It also helps to future-proof your activity against any changes that may affect your reach or your ability to target your audiences on social media. This makes it an important channel for any organization looking to drive recruitment via video content.
Prisha might still depart the organization. But there’s a chance that she may yet engage better through tactics like video-based communications instead of emails, being invited to participate in an employee story video and more. All it takes is a phone camera, a little imagination and a willingness to lean into what your employees are telling you.
5. Instagram
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 32%
Boasting around one billion monthly active users, Instagram offers access to a sizable and valuable talent pool that should form part of every organization’s employer branding strategy. The effective use of Instagram stories, grid posts, paid ads and hashtagging via compelling video content helps your organization build brand awareness and target potential candidates – including those who aren’t actively seeking new job opportunities.
Increasingly, leading organizations are creating standalone accounts designed specifically to attract top candidates by showing everyday life at the company. Businesses including Hulu (@lifeathulu) and HubSpot (@hubspotlife) are part of this trend.
Striking the balance between posting too little or too often on Instagram can be tricky. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri advised that the best way to keep an Instagram audience engaged and build a following is to upload two feed posts per week and two stories per day.
6. Email
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 31%
If your organization has invested the time and resources to develop its talent pool, make sure you use this to your advantage by sharing your latest video content via an enewsletter. It’s a simple but nice way to keep candidates engaged and in the loop about your latest job openings.
Furthermore, embedding video content into any email exchanges with job applicants can also help personalize the recruitment process. Use video to thank candidates for applying, update them on the next stage of the recruitment process or provide feedback.
7. Job boards
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 24%
In a competitive job market, organizations need to work harder to stand out from the crowd and secure top talent. Jobs boards can be a great place to find such candidates – but not if your ads are bland or overly wordy.
Studies show that video-based job postings get 12% more views and have a 34% greater application rate than those without video. What’s more, Google research claims that job postings featuring a video are more likely to appear in a job seeker’s search results.
8. Intranet site
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 20%
Internal recruitment might be more straightforward and cost-effective than searching for external candidates, but it’s still essential that you engage existing employees about open job opportunities.
One way to do this is to upload video content to your company’s intranet page that details job openings, exciting opportunities within the business, and information about social events or employee perks. Keeping employees happy and motivated will increase the likelihood that they stick around for the long term.
Opportunities can also be communicated to candidates in a more informal manner via tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams. These platforms make it easy to target specific groups or functions within a business with relevant opportunities, and employees are much more likely to absorb the information when it is presented in an engaging video format.
9. TikTok
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 14%
TikTok – one to watch with a bullet. TikTok is perhaps the most unlikely addition to this list, but it makes it into the top video sharing channels with good reason. Depending on your organization and the types of candidates you want to attract, it could become an increasingly important part of your employer branding strategy.
More than 100 million Americans use TikTok every month, and half of those use the app every day. If you want to reach a large audience, TikTok is the place to be.
You can bet that a significant portion of your existing workforce is using the app – and some of them will be doing so to share career advice or top tips about working in your industry. These employees are fantastic advocates for your organization, and you can leverage that by reposting their content.
More than any other online platform, TikTok is about fun. The platform may have extended its maximum video length from 60 seconds to three minutes in early 2021, but short and snappy is still the aim of the TikTok game. Fortunately, TikTok makes it super easy for hiring managers and recruitment teams to get creative – you just need your smartphone
If you have the budget, there’s also the option to target custom audiences with paid recruitment ads.
10. Applicant Tracking System (ATS)TikTok
Percentage of SOVT respondents using video on this channel: 14%
Many organizations use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to automate certain stages of the hiring process. In fact, more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies currently use an ATS to collect candidate data, track communication, schedule interviews, screen resumes and automate emails.
Without the usual levels of human interaction, candidates may find the recruitment process a little soulless. They won’t get a sense of what it’s like to work at your company or be able to chat with existing employees. Incorporating video content into your ATS helps to personalize the candidate’s experience every step of the way. You can also request that candidates submit their own video messages, making it easier for your team to assess them.
Whichever platforms or channels you use to attract new talent, video content serves to enrich your message, helping you to reach a wider audience and engage with them on a more meaningful level.
Learn more
Read VideoMyJob’s State of Video in Talent 2021 report—no email required.
